


The Set Up

by illusive_delusions



Category: The Martian, The Martian (2015), The Martian - Andy Weir
Genre: Awkward Flirting, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Prompt Fill, Tumblr Prompt, Unresolved Romantic Tension, also my computer keeps autocorrecting Mark & Mindy to Mork & Mindy how cute is that, mark and Mindy love each other it's canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-08 16:28:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12868482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/illusive_delusions/pseuds/illusive_delusions
Summary: At a fancy gala Venkat Kapoor has a plan to introduce Mindy Park and Mark Watney, but things change when he notices a spark between the pair. Now, he's on a mission to get the pair together.





	1. The Gala

anonymous said: “i really like the way you write mindy and venkats friendship - could you write something about venkat setting mark & mindy up together”

My first-ever prompt!! As you might've surmised, I've been having a tad bit of trouble getting motivated to write lately and this was just the kick in the ass I needed - so thank you! This is probably slightly different that's what you were looking for, but I hope you like it!

* * *

The reception hall was lavishly decorated, the influential members of congress were being effectively schmoozed, the press was asking lowball questions of the NASA  
higher ups, and the liquor was flowing like water. And Venkat Kapoor was miserable. 

He wasn't sure how many more of these self-congratulatory “Mark Watney Is Back” galas he was going to be able to tolerate before he ripped his hair out of his head and ran screaming from his office and into Houston traffic. 

And he used to think that conference calls and trips to Beijing were bad. 

At least back then Mark could only bitch at him in messages spaced 19 minutes apart. And he hadn't been vying for the top spot at NASA in the wake of Teddy’s retirement announcement. And he hadn't been required to wear a tuxedo since his wedding day. 

Venkat fiddled with his bow tie again and snagged another glass of champagne off a passing waiter’s tray as he ducked to avoid a patch of journalists huddled around Mark, who was sending Venkat death-glares at being forced into another PR outing. 

Venkat wanted to shout at him to bitch at Annie instead, but was afraid of drawing undue attention to himself from the reporters. He was under strict orders to appear on television in ‘as minimal a capacity as possible’ and he didn't want to get on Annie's worse side again this evening. 

So Venkat found himself hiding out behind a decorative potted plant, stuffing his face with cocktail shrimp and making intermittent small talk with senators he never would have voted for in a trillion lifetimes. It seemed like every time one flag-pinned buffoon stepped away another one materialized to fill his place, making veiled threats against NASA’s funding disguised as jokes about the cost of the Watney rescue or else blathering on about the capital gains tax or some other bullshit.

It made Venkat wish he could hop on one of his rockets in Cape Canaveral and strand himself on Mars, just to get away from it all. He was milliseconds away from bringing up one particularly lecherous congressman’s recent sex scandal right to his stupid pudgy face, when he spotted a friendly face in the crowd for the first time all evening. 

Time to set his plan into action, and liven up the dull party, he thought. 

Venkat excused himself brusquely from the congressmen and made his way over to the open bar, getting in line behind an impeccably dressed and extremely uncomfortable looking Mindy Park. 

“This is all your fault, you know,” he said, leaning closer to her so she could hear him above the orchestra which was much louder this close to the dance floor. 

Mindy spun around — teetering slightly on high heels — and faced him, making a face like she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Her expression melted away to one of exasperation upon recognizing her boss. 

“Jesus Venk, didn't anyone ever tell you not to sneak up on a girl,” Mindy cried, fishing around in her clutch for her drink tickets as the line progressed forward. “I swear for a second I thought you were somebody important. And how, exactly, is this my fault, by the way? You're the one who forced me to come.”

Venkat shot a teasing glare at Mindy for insinuating his unimportance and pushed on. 

“You started this whole mess,” he joked. “If you hadn't found Mark we’d never have had to come to these stupid things.”

“If I hadn't found him we’d all probably be out of a job at this point.”

“Touché, Park - hey watch it, is this your first day on new legs?”

“These heels are high and I haven't worn them since my cousin’s wedding like five years ago,”

“Yeah I can tell, what, did you decide to wear your bridesmaid dress to this thing?”

“You said formal, this is the only formal thing I had in my closet already, jerk.”

And on they bickered lightheartedly as they waited for their drinks, falling into their usual comfortable rapport which Venkat was sure was bad for his credibility as Mindy’s superior but he didn't mind.

The kid was something else, and since the Watney debacle they had continued their friendship which had been essentially forged in the fires of war. His wife Sarah often jokes that Mindy is their first child. He, of course, vehemently denies this whenever it's brought up, but even he can't deny to himself the certain fatherly affinity he has for the young woman. 

Which is maybe why he’d let the cat out of the bag to Watney about the full extent of Mindy’s involvement in his rescue, despite having been told by Teddy not to single out specific employees for special attention before they could get their story straight with Annie for the press. 

And it was maybe why he’d insisted she come tonight despite her protests. 

And it maybe had a teensy bit to do with the fact that he’d waved Mark over to where they stood when Mindy had been turned to the bartender. 

Mindy had been continually reticent to meet Mark, and Venkat had wanted to have a little fun at the unbelievably mind numbing event, so sue him. 

Mark was making his way steadily across the crowded hall, deftly dodging reporters with his charm and wit and, impressively, managing not to throw elbows to get through the sea of humanity between him and his boss. 

“Venkat, I swear to god man if you make me come to another one of these things this month I —” Mark began as he drew near. 

Venkat never got to hear Mark’s creative and no doubt profanity laden threat, however, because at that precise moment Mindy turned around with her drink in hand and the two locked eyes, apparently killing the quip on Watney’s tongue. 

Venkat couldn't have scripted it better himself. 

“Ah Mark, I've been meaning to introduce you to my intrepid protégée, meet Mindy Park,” Venkat crowed gleefully as he gave Mindy a not-so-subtle shove in Watney’s direction. 

As expected, Mark’s eyes light up in recognition at the name of the woman Venkat had described as his “guardian angel” only a few days before. 

Mindy just stares mutely at Watney, apparently either too star struck or too frightened to say anything. 

Mark, ever the chatty one, is the first to break the silence between the pair, extending his hand out to hers. 

“Nice to meet you,” Watney stammers nervously, “I'm Mark.”

“Oh yeah, I know who you are,”

“Oh, um right, that was-”

“It's okay! Um, I'm Mindy,”

“Yeah, Venkat just said-”

“Oh my god, yeah of course I’m sorry-”

“No, you're good!”

Venkat glances back and forth between the pair. Two of the smartest people he’s ever met and they've only just managed to eke out the beginnings of a conversation. It's unbelievable. He’d wanted them to meet in the hopes that Mark’s boundless gratitude would force Mindy to acknowledge her role in his rescue but this awkwardly adorable meet-cute is beginning to shift his perceptions a little. 

Mark and Mindy continue to stare at each other, Watney grinning broadly and Mindy blushing and smiling shyly up at him and it's like they're the only two people in the room. He's beginning to get seriously uncomfortable as the seconds tick past and the two just keep smiling at each other like pubescent dorks. 

“Ahem,” Venkat clears his throat, attempting to remind the duo in front of him that he, along with the rest of the planet, still exists. “So, now that we've all gotten to know one another-”

The moment breaks wide open, giving Venkat the sense that he’s just popped a balloon or shattered a glass on the ground. 

Mindy jumps about a mile in the air and Mark begins talking at an almost indecipherable pace, all ‘thank you so muchs’ and ‘I can't believe you were with me the whole times’ and Mindy barely flicks her ireful gaze on Venkat for a second before being drawn back to Mark’s smile as if by a magnet. 

Venkat stares in shock, hardly listening to Mindy’s sharp refusals about her overall importance to the mission (although he's sure he could recite her standard lines by rote in his sleep at this point,) as the two dive into conversation as effortlessly as if they'd known each other for years. 

Mindy, his shy Miss Melinda Park, was chatting up Martian Hero Mark Watney at a star studded celebratory gala like she’d only bumped into an old friend at the grocery store. It was a sight to behold. 

Venkat watched Mindy fiddle with her bracelet and nervously swirl her wine around in its long-stemmed glass like an awkward semaille, far from the picture of confidence and grace but, seeing as he’d half expected her to literally run out of the ballroom upon meeting Mark, he was duly impressed. And those smiles. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say that there was chemistry bubbling between the young couple. 

He felt a swell of happiness in his heart as he watched Mindy interacting with Watney, and found while examining the two of them as a unit instead of as two individuals that they made a rather striking couple. And didn't it make a sort of sense? After all, Mindy had begun the whole operation, had watched Mark’s every move. It was sort of romantic in a way. 

He was just thinking of some excuse he could give to leave the two alone when he spotted the chairwoman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology standing alone near the cocktail shrimp. He waved over at her, thinking now was as good a time as any to press the flesh, and stepped away from Mark and Mindy who barely seemed to register his leaving. 

The whole rest of the night, anytime Venkat sought out Mark, Mindy was right there beside him, sipping her drink and laughing, or nodding compassionately at something he’d said, or gesticulating wildly as though explaining something thoroughly. 

A few hours later he felt a tap on his shoulder as he stood on the outskirts of a conversation about budget. Grateful for the interruption he turned around to see Mindy who was alone again at last. Over her shoulder he could see that Mark had apparently been roped into another interview, and was charming the socks off of a couple dozen reporters over by the bar. 

Mindy leaned up to speak nearer to Venkat’s ear, apparently having divested herself of her high heels after a glass or two of wine. 

“Hey Venk I'm headed out,” she said. 

“So soon?” he asked, surprised that she was leaving when Mark was no doubt committed to staying for at least another hour. 

“Yeah I've got things to do tomorrow,” she replied, plucking an hor d'oeuvres off his napkin and popping it into her mouth defiantly. 

“Hey, I had to fight my way to the snack table for that, I almost lost a limb!,” he cried. 

“Serves you right for ambushing me with Mark,” Mindy said, accompanying her accusation with a resounding smack to his forearm. “Thanks to you I made a complete ass of myself!”

“Thanks to me you actually managed to talk to the guy before you turned seventy,” he quipped back. “Besides, Mark didn't seem to mind,” he added, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. 

Mindy flushes a deep red, although Venkat can’t be one hundred percent sure that isn’t due to the wine. 

“Yeah, he's very nice, and I'm glad I got to talk to him once,” Mindy says quickly, all traces of the slightly silly smile on her face vanishing into thin air. With one final perfunctory wave she turns and heads for the exit before Venkat can process what she'd just said. 

Once? Does she really believe that the expression on Mark’s face when they were formally introduced a few hours ago is the face of a man who only wants to see her once? She can't be serious, right?

He stands and watches Mindy as she disappears amongst the other formally clad partygoers and silently promises to her that she hasn't seen the last of of their Martian hero. He's got a few tricks up his sleeve to throw them together again. And besides, if Mark’s reaction was anything to go on then he wouldn't have to try especially hard to convince Mark to swing by SatCon next time he was at JSC. 

He’s never considered himself much of a matchmaker, but if anyone could benefit from some matchmaking it would surely be Mindy Park. And if anyone could benefit from having someone like Mindy Park in their lives it would surely be Mark Watney.


	2. The Backup

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops -- I made it multi-chap. I don't know, I just got bit by the writing bug I guess! And I got a lot of positive feed back so I thought I might as well! Let me know what you think!!

Venkat Kapoor sat at his expansive desk and spun slow circles in his high-back swivel chair. An impressive pile of memos and files were piled around him, and every few seconds his computer chimed out, telling him he’d probably be in the office answering emails well past 5:00PM. 

_DING_

Yep. 

“You’ve got mail,” Venkat murmured to himself as he paused his revolutions to look out of the large bay windows behind his desk and ponder his predicament. 

Hmm now there was an idea. If only he hadn’t introduced Mark and Mindy so hastily at the gala earlier that month. They got along far too well to truly live out the plot of his wife’s favorite old romantic comedy. 

And that was the problem, wasn’t it? The two young NASA employees got along so well, in fact, that they had transformed Venkat from a respected astrophysicist and high level government employee into a meddling father figure trying to find his daughter a date to prom; they even had him contemplating executing convoluted rom-com plots to get them back in the same room. 

All he’d wanted to do was get Mindy some well-deserved recognition from the man she had launched an international mutinous space-rescue for. Why did things never go his way?

How had he been supposed to guess that there’d be enough chemistry between the pair to redub them Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan?

Spinning back around to his desk top again, Venkat grabbed a pen and a legal pad and began absentmindedly doodling, continuing to steadfastly ignore his ever-chiming computer. 

Maybe he’d been wrong about the spark he thought he’d seen? But no, the way they’d talked all night? The way they’d _smiled_ at each other? The almost uncanny level of comfort Mindy had exhibited in Mark’s presence? No, there had been enough sexual tension there to fuel a Marvin Gaye song. Maybe a whole album. 

Now the main issue was how to get Mindy to willingly be in the same room with Mark again at some point, because he wasn’t sure that his previous method of guerilla matchmaking was exactly sustainable. 

The setting of the gala had been unique, Mindy hadn’t exactly been able to make a run for it and the setting had lent itself to a kind of casual intimacy where they had been able to speak in realtime privacy while still surrounded by their colleagues and congressional chairs. It had been an excellent place for a first interaction, to allow them to test the water so to speak. 

But without being surrounded by the pomp and circumstance of a gala held to honor what had in part been achieved thanks to her, Venkat could all too easily envision Mindy freezing up and not allowing herself to relax in Mark’s presence. She’d gotten so much better in the past couple of years at containing her shyness and coming into her own, but she had a lingering _off-ness_ when it came to the Watney rescue that Venkat just couldn't wrap his head around. 

He’d known from the moment Mindy’s face had fallen when he’d insinuated that Mark had enjoyed her company at the gala that getting her to pursue anything with Mark -- even just friendship -- would be like pulling teeth. 

_DING -- DING -- DING_

His email. Dammit. 

Venkat set aside his scribbled-upon legal pad and set to work, pushing the Mark and Mindy issue to the back of his mind for the time being. 

 

***

As with nearly every challenge Venkat Kapoor had set out to overcome in his adult life, he needed to come at this with a clear and logical game plan. 

He needed reinforcements, that much was clear. He just wasn’t adept enough at navigating the complexities of someone else’s romance, let alone one with the emotional baggage that both Mindy and Mark would no doubt bring into a potential relationship. 

Considering how monumental the task was sure to be, he needed to call up the big guns. He needed someone well versed in the field of romance. He, admittedly, probably needed someone with a feminine perspective. He needed someone who was emotionally invested in the outcome of his matchmaking without being so close to the situation as to muddy the waters. He needed his wife. 

Sarah Bhatra-Kapoor was a force to be reckoned with. A graduate-level professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the prestigious Rice University, Sarah was one of the smartest and most dedicated people he had ever known. This project was definitely going to call for wit and dedication so, check. 

Sarah was also a hopeless romantic who could probably recite line-by-line every romantic movie of the 20th century. Check. 

She knew everything he did about both Mark Watney and Mindy Park, as he told her everything, but she was also immersed enough in her own life and research that she would have a clear head about her when discussing the game plan. Check. 

And having Sarah involved in the project would no doubt allow them to spend more time together, something that their relationship had been starved of for years, really since the Watney debacle had begun. If her being in on his crazy matchmaking schemes meant they would see more of each other then Venkat would make it his life’s mission to set up every single person in the greater Houston area if need be. Triple check. Now all he had to do was convince her. 

***

“Oh absolutely, I’m in,” Sarah said without looking up from the wine bottle she was intently uncorking. 

Well. That had been easy. 

“Are you sure? I mean, you didn't even let me finish my sentence,” 

“Absolutely! You know I love Mindy! And, I know you well enough to realize that you wouldn’t be setting her up with just anybody,” Sarah exclaimed, twisting the corkscrew back and forth jerkily. “Besides,” she added, throwing a sly smile his way, “I trust your romantic instincts.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Of course, I’m one of them, aren't I?”

“Fair point,” Venkat said, sidling up behind his wife and grabbing the wine and corkscrew from her hands, wordlessly taking over her task as she turned to stir the pot of bubbling pesto sauce that he had left unattended. 

“So,” Sarah asked, affecting a casual tone even as she turned her whole body in his direction in preparation for his response. “Who are you setting our favorite satellite engineer up with then?”

“Who are _we_ setting her up with, you mean?”

“Right, of course, _we_ , who are _we_ setting her up with?”

“Um well, you know that black tie celebration thing I forced her to go to about a month ago?” Venkat asked as he moved to the cupboard to grab a pair of wine glasses, suddenly nervous to be admitting to his wife the objectively ridiculous notion of setting up an internationally famous astronaut with a lowly SatCon engineer. 

“Sure,” Sarah said, her eyes now trained on him like a hawk.

“Well, that night I introduced her to Mark. Mark Watney I mean.”

He turned to face his wife and met her eyes reluctantly. 

Sarah stood across from the kitchen island scrutinizing him as if to deduce whether or not he had sustained a traumatic brain injury. Seeming to find him relatively cognizant of the name that had just come from his mouth, she turned to flick the stove top off then spun on her heels, giving him her full attention.

It had been a long time since They had spoken to each other face to face without the distractions of food or work or television, and he’d almost forgotten how intimidating her thoughtful pauses could be when unaccompanied by the other sounds of daily activities. 

Finally, she spoke. 

“You really think he’s good enough for her?” Sarah asked, an intent crease appearing between her carefully sculpted brows. 

Venkat felt his heart expand warmly in his chest. That had been his first consideration as well. 

With a broad smile, he crossed the island to envelop his wife in a hug.

“I think he is. They're good for each other Sari, you should have seen them that night,” he said, resting his head on hers and enjoying the smell of her delicate perfume wafting over him. “They were practically like teenagers.”

After a beat Sarah pulled back a bit to look her husband in the eyes. She couldn't help the smile that tugged across her face a she reached up to peck him on the lips before turning to grab a dinner plate.

“Well then mister matchmaker,” she quipped as she began to dish up their food and he moved to pour the wine, “you’d better fill me in on all the details. If we’re gonna do this I need to have all the information.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay I know it's been forever since I've update COTNSV and I PROMISE I'm still working on it but I've been suffering from some severe writers block lately and this really helped get the creative juices flowing. Also yeah I guess I'm taking prompts on tumblr now lol. Let me know what you guys think and as always a huge thank you for reading!


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